Uninnocent
by xHiddenM
Summary: Sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. Sometimes being killed doesn't mean you have to stay dead. Sometimes we all wanna stay in place, terrified. But sometimes we need to act, face our fears of the zombie apocalypse through a new world of fire, and resist. Because it's all you have left to do. OP/OC, multiple pairings, read warnings, rating may go up
1. Decrescendo

**Hi guys! So I am starting another, and like always, I just couldn't leave this plot bunny alone, so I wrote it out and posted it.**

**This is gonna be really, really different from the rest of my stories; I'm experimenting with horror and lots of different emotions, like how the best of people can become the worst, and feelings can lead to strange or bad actions. It's to help with my experience in writing. My whole focus is on emotion.**

**WARNING: Extremely graphic gore, mild-strong language, suicide, character death. This is not for anyone who doesn't like horror or violence. Some scenes may not be for anyone with a weak stomach and could possibly trigger bad memories and/or emotions. Please heed these warnings and think twice before continuing with this story. **

**Universe: Bayverse, Animated, Prime, possibly others as I see fit. I don't know if it's in DotM or RotF or just TF yet, it depends.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Michael Bay and Hasbro do, and I never will and blah, blah, blah.**

"**Comm. Link"**

"Regular Words"

_Thoughts_

"_Emphasis _in words _sometimes_"

**Preface**

"No."

"But – "

"I said no!" I shouted, finally losing my temper, whirling around and shoving him back. There wasn't time for this! I hated him, hated him so much for just existing. I would do this alone. I knew what to do and how to do it.

I don't need him. And I _never_ will.

**Uninnocent**

**Chapter One**

**Decrescendo [Pilot Chapter]**

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Chloe Martinez said persuasively, pulling her brother, Rick, by the hand towards the door.

Violet Mercer (known as just Mercer), Pierce Matthews, and Lacey Stewart watched amusedly. Tina Drew sighed loudly, pissy about the whole thing. Dan Jackie stood off to the side; not awkwardly, just in that cool 'I'm-better-than-this' way that lots of the 'dark and mysterious' kinda guys did.

Finally, Chloe realized Rick wasn't gonna move – so she changed tactics.

"Dan, what do you think? Ya wanna go to Kat'z with us?"

He shot her a look, this one saying 'why the hell would I want to do that'?

"Becky will be there!" she sing-songed.

"Let's go." He grunted, without hesitation. Chloe squealed. "Yay! C'mon guys!" she motioned to the other watching three, who stood up.

"There're 9 of us." Pierce pointed out. This time, the energetic girl huffed. "Fine, we'll take Dan's Jeep and Chase's Saturn."

"Have you _seen_ the piece of shit Saturn I drive? The thing barely makes it to school every day!" Chase snapped.

"Then it should make it to Kat'z, Chase," Pierce assured him lazily. "It's just 2 blocks from here."

Chase sighed and put his hands up in surrender.

A few minutes later, they pulled up by Kat'z, a popular café/bookstore/music center. The place was loud, pumping with music, smelled of coffee and books, and it was actually a little cold inside – despite all the people inside. Good thing the place was so freaking _big_.

The owner herself, Kat, ushered them inside, babbling on about the new type of coffees and soup specials and all that.

Mercer loved this place. The building was huge with wide, open space. Unlike the bookstores similar to Kat'z (i.e. Barnes and Nobles, Borders, etc.), the shelves weren't everywhere, lined in rows or anything. Every single wall was lined with built-in bookshelves, and not a single one of them was empty. They all went right up to the ceiling.

By the center, a spiral staircase led to the second floor. Circling the spiral staircase (not including the opening) was where people lined up to order food at a counter that displayed numerous pastries and bookmarks for sale. Also by the back were the kitchens. There were tables, chairs, and booths spread throughout the room almost randomly, but after careful looking, you'd see that none of them were close to the books and spaced apart enough for waiters and people to walk through in groups comfortably; it actually circled the stairs.

Kat led them to a table deep in the circle.

"Alright guys, if you need anything, I'll be up by the counters, 'K?" she said, smiling. They nodded thanks, some voicing it.

Some people just went up to the counters to order for themselves and pick a table, and later a waiter would be by. Some were led in and given a table to wait for a waiter. It didn't really matter. The only rule here is to tell the waiter you're leaving a table so they can clean up – since most people would get up after a bit and pick up a book while they're waiting or some sort of thing.

Mercer was already eyeing the books like they were the world's best chocolate, and almost left as soon as she had sat down. But Becky, a waitress and their friend, came by with a grin.

"Hey guys!" Becky smiled, brushing her long red hair over her shoulder, hazel eyes scanning them over. Ace perked up at seeing the strikingly beautiful girl, being the perverted jock he is. Dan kicked him hard under the table and turned his attention towards her, moving his head just right so his black bangs flipped to his eyes, giving him that dark and sexy look as his eyes glowed bright green. A group of teenage girls giggled and squealed loudly from the table across from them, hands covering their mouths as they blushed furiously. Honestly Dan thought they sounded like pigs, but he wasn't really looking. He kissed his girlfriend quickly, knowing Kat didn't like that stuff public, especially with her workers.

"So, you guys want something?" Becky asked, still smiling happily. She was a nice girl by nature, but had a sharp mouth and got ticked off easily.

"Uh…I'll just have the soup special." Mercer said, finally giving in and rushing to look at a particular book that she had her eyes on. Lacey smiled at the waitress shyly.

"Some iced water is fine, thanks."

Both girls glanced simultaneously at the rest of the group. Ace, Dan, and Rick were arguing, voices steadily growing louder. Chloe was begging them to stop as Pierce tried to voice a compromise, and Tina seemed content to just sit back, looking as uninterested as possible. Noticing the other girls' looks, she ordered everyone except for herself iced water. Becky looked a little miffed as she couldn't gain Dan's attention one last time for a flirty wink, but strode off anyway.

Meanwhile, Mercer was running her hands along the spines of the books. The young girl was trapped inside her own world, filled with words and creativity. Reality – no matter how close it actually is – was far, far away, hidden under lock and key in the deepest, darkest parts of her minds.

The only thing her senses picked up were the jumbled words of the books titles, linking up with similar ones and movies, pictures and book covers flitted across her eyes and mind. Reality said they were frozen in place. Mercer said they moved spectacularly, sometimes in slow motion; like a movie. Other times they were fast, quick, and precise. Expressions were vivid, movements constant, and sound clearer than crystal.

It was completely, and utterly Mercer.

She made her way, as if in a trance, up the stairs and to the second floor of Kat'z. It was really more like a type of indoor balcony. Everything was pristine white, books surrounding her from everywhere except for the front, where you could view the entire place. The windows here were bright and long, letting in bright sunlight. Kat never turned the light on until the sun went down and could no longer be seen.

Below, Rick watched her move fluidly. In all honesty he thought she moved like an angel, or a ballerina. Or both. The way she strode so confidently, her attitude calm, if not a bit fiery. He watched in a trance of his own, and decided to make his way toward her. Dan and Ace were still arguing loudly.

"Rick, you know what I'm talking 'bout, don't you, man?" Ace questioned without even bothering to look over at the other guy. When he didn't get the response he was looking for, the asshole glanced at the other.

"Dude?"

Dan smirked and sat back in his hair. "See? Even the local dumbass knows I'm right."

Rick stood up, and for a second Dan thought the man was gonna punch him. But he just left, a little smile on his face, never once turning from Mercer.

While both idiots stared, obviously confused, Pierce followed Rick's gaze and chuckled when he saw Mercer, standing by a shelf, hand pulling out a book.

Pierce turned away to face Becky, who came holding a tray of their soup special, French Onion Soup, and 9 glasses of ice water.

Nobody really paid attention – not even Pierce. Nope, he was looking at Tina. Not as a romantic interest, but in curiosity and suspicion as she perked up from her bored position once Becky set the glasses down.

"I don't give a _damn_!" Ace snapped, a little loudly.

Dan stood up, chair clattering as it fell. He grabbed him by the collar of his T – shirt and held him close, opening his mouth to say something threatening.

Tina chose that moment to make her move.

She grabbed two waters – hers and Ace's – and poured them all over the two arguing teens.

They jumped and shrieked like little girls.

"What the _**FUCK**_?!"

Tina cackled and dropped the glasses with a clatter onto the table. She snatched another two and threw the contents over them. Again. Ice and water splashed to the floor.

Tina sat back down on the chair, still laughing.

"What the hell was that for?" Dan shouted. She shrugged and replied, "You were annoying me. I don't like being annoyed." As if it was obvious.

Pierce sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Only Tina would make that sound logical.

"FIRE!"

The clever man jolted from his chair, as did several others. He stood up and scanned the room for the source of the shout.

In the back of the room, where workers had previously been unloading boxes, was a fire. Most were running away, shouting for a fire extinguisher.

One of them dropped a box in his haste to get away, and it burst open in a ball of flame. Instantly, a dozen were on fire, screaming. There were lots of noises, like firecrackers going off – but Pierce was pretty sure they were coming from inside the box.

"Becky – what's inside those boxes?" he called over the screaming people rushing by them.

"The only boxes that are being brought in today are books!" Becky said. It sounded more like a question then a fact though. So they were on the same page.

"I don't think so!" Chase shouted, trying to shove his away closer to them. "You hear that firecracker sound?" they nodded.

"Firecrackers are supposed to sound like machine gun fire, you know? That's what people say. But they're coming from inside the boxes, so unless there're itty bitty _stick figures_ holding guns and bombs, I don't think it's gunfire."

"No, it's gotta be something like – like – " Lacey struggled to think of something. But she couldn't. Not like this. Not in this havoc. Everything was happening to fast, and she just couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that those boxes held explosives, and many people had just died in front of her eyes.

"W – Where's Mercer? And Rick?" Chloe whimpered. She was the youngest of them all, even thought it was only by a year. But many still thought of her as the baby, because of her carefree and lively attitude. It was easy to forget she was their age and consider her a child who needs the support of her big brother and best friend.

Ace whipped his head back around, looking for the two. Rick hadn't made it to the second floor. The only person on the second floor was Mercer, who was still looking at books.

_How the freak did she do that?_ He thought, shaking his head in wonder.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and roared as loud as he could.

"MERCER!"

Nothing. Maybe she couldn't hear him over the panicking people. She was pretty deep in thought too, probably another reason why she didn't snap out of it.

Gods this was awful. Another explosion went off, completely blowing out the back half of the building, including the balcony.

Mercer was, like Ace figured, lost in thought. She had discovered a book, nonfiction, way in the back of a shelf.

There was no title, no cover picture or specific design. It was just a plain black book, average sized.

The words were written in very small print, barely recognizable unless you squint.

But the things that were written nice and big were the glyphs that the words talked about. There was an occasional picture – either sketched out or in a black and white photo – that showed the glyphs on pyramids, Greek and Roman temples, and other places.

_It is unknown where these glyphs come from. Many say they are words of an ancient civilization. Some say they are crude drawings of the cavemen, and others say they are not of human origin._

_This leads us to a different question._

_Not who these were written by, but what?_

Mercer read on, when the floor shook, plucking her from her mind. She was suddenly aware of her surroundings.

If you could even call it that.

"…the hell?"

The ground shook violently, throwing her off balance as the world tilted. No, not the world – just the floor. Something crashed to the ground, and she fell forward, biting her tongue.

Mercer tasted the metallic flavored blood in her mouth. Her ribs ached from the crash. But that was the least of her worries.

Nah, she was _kinda _more worried about the fact that she was sliding down the floor like it was ice, and when she fell, it would be into flames.

The black book slid with her, and Mercer groped the ground for it; snatching a single page. Unfortunately, the page was ripped out, and the rest of the book fell off the edge and into fire.

With the important stuff done, the teen tried her best to stop herself, but the world was blurry.

_I think I have a concussion…_ she thought as she blinked. Suddenly, there was another blast. This one shot flames up, right by the spot she had been standing. The ground crumbled, and books fell like raindrops. Oh! Paper cut!

"MERCER!" someone shouted. It hadn't been Ace, no, that was awhile ago. Rick grabbed her roughly by the arm, jerking her up.

"C'mon, we need to get outta here!" he shouted a little too loudly for her comfort.

She shook her head and blinked. Then, Mercer was hyper ware of everything. She saw the dozens of people run, half of them on fire, screaming and flailing blindly.

Rick was trying to tell her something, hollering loudly in her ear. But that wasn't important, nothing else was important. Fire blazed by, Rick barely managing to pull her out of the way. She felt the heat graze her arm though, so it wasn't fast enough.

Mercer couldn't feel the heat. Only the feel of the sweat running down her face, the pull of the muscles as she threw herself back, hair flying out.

Everything, every single little thing, was happening in slow motion. Think of it like bullet time in _The Matrix_.

Mercer flung into the heat at full speed, eyes searching for the figure she'd seen in the midst of the fire.

Not a human. No…something else. Something…robotic, with a strikingly similar build to humans. It had flames on it, red and blue colored, standing tall and proud.

At the same time, Rick held her arms back, to keep her from falling into the fire. He was shouting at her, mouth open, but the words never reached her brain. It was all…it, him.

The robot with flames.

She managed to rip one arm from Rick, holding out her hand to the robot. Flames licked her hand, and this time the pain registered; the hand pulled back as if by it's own.

But as her hand was in the fire, the robot, looking the other way heroically, turned to her, slowly. It's beautiful blue eyes turned to gaze at her. They flashed brightly, blindingly, almost.

But it had blinked, the pain had registered, she'd pulled back to it, and the being vanished.

The robot was sentient. Mercer knew that much. But something about him was human, yet it wasn't. At least, not physically.

BOOM.

Rick shoved her back and away, as the last of the floor crumbled away, and they fell, slamming into the ground and sliding downward.

Violet Mercer screamed loudly as the flames took over the being, and she fell back.

"Mercer! Mercer, come on! We gotta move! This place is going down!" Rick roared into her ear.

And indeed it was. Every book was on fire, the shelves were crumbling, and books rained down on them like fireballs.

Mercer snapped to her senses again, and snatched Rick's hand, leading him to the entrance of Kat'z, leaping over dead bodies, crisp and black. The scent of burning flesh and wood assaulted her nose.

By the time they made it outside, they were covered in soot, with burns and cuts all over.

They jumped outside right into the arms of a fireman, who called for medical support.

There were a lot of people standing outside, reporters and cameras on the scene. Mercer and Rick turned – as did everyone else – to stare into the door way as the place exploded once more. Policemen, firemen, and all those other people on the scene urged the crowd back roughly.

Chloe watched in disbelief as Kat'z, the most popular hangout in the neighborhood blew up in a burst of flames.

"Look, Chloe!" Lacey gently urged the younger girl to look away. She was too innocent, too kind-hearted to look at this.

"Chloe, there's Rick – and he has Mercer with him!"

That was all it took. Chloe rushed to their side, pushing past the others who tried to get her to stop. She practically tackled an achy Rick, who grunted loudly and awkwardly wrapped his arms around his little sister.

Mercer clutched the page that had accidently been torn out of the black book. It was all rushing back to her, like rewinding on a TV.

Closing her eyes, she saw the strange and powerful being again, looking into his bright blue eyes. But it wasn't the same. They didn't flash as brightly they were supposed to in her mind.

"We have to put out the fire – they're spreading to the next building already, sir!" one man reported.

All around her, people were running, reporting, shouting orders, and putting out fires. They were heroes, just like that – that alien…she could feel it deep inside.

Unknown to them all, in the mass of dead bodies, one twitched. And then it's half melted eyes opened. The mouth opened wide, jaw snapping, blackened teeth yellowing and stretching with a series of painful sounding cracks. The canines became a full foot long, razor sharp and thick. The nails were almost exactly the same, skin swelling to the size of grapes and tangerines, bright purple and pink. The foot had been blown off in an explosion, but it quickly grew back, toenails growing longer, but only slightly. They were shaped like talons and just as swollen on the skin. It arched its back, breaking the spine.

"Raaaaauggghhhh…" it moaned.

The fire was completely out, and firemen shifted through the rubble.

It wasn't really an interesting task, but it wasn't a boring one, either. It was full of sadness, disgust as the dead were pulled from their grave.

This place was one of the most popular places to teens, families, and even adults. This was Kat'z. Now…it is their tomb.

Buried underneath a bookshelf and part of the balcony, a little girl who had been 7 years old at the time of her death, shot a hand out from under _Pride and Prejudice_. She had yellowed foot long nails, gnarled and swollen purplish-pinkish skin on her fingers surrounding it.

Another – a man's – wrapped a hand around a firemen's leg and ripped his foot off with a moan.

The living man screamed in pain, falling to the ground as the – the _thing_ latched onto the wound and began sucking/chewing, 6 inch fangs sinking in and adding to the pain.

Another latched onto his face, fang ripping out an eyeball, sucking it like candy with a hum of contentment. More and more of the living dead burst from the debris, moaning and groaning, unintelligible things falling from their mouths.

Many humans suffered the same fate before others noticed, sadly enough.

Chloe rushed forward, and the little girl staggered up, towards her.

"A – are you alright? Here," she extended her hand. "I can help you," she offered, smiling lightly. To any other, this would have forced the other to smile back, no matter how much pain they were in or how sad they were. Her smile was just so contagious, so kind and reassuring…

The little girl clutched her burnt Barbie doll, a finger puncturing the head by accident. The girl, who Chloe had yet to look at clearly, stared (sorta) at the doll, and let out a whine.

She tossed it to the ground. The smoke cleared, and Chloe saw the half melted eyes, one staring right at her and one rolling around, even though it wasn't truly whole.

The bright and joyful girl let out a scream. A scream filled with horror, terror for both the little girl and herself.

Mercer looked up from the ground, alerted by the sound at once.

Chloe made a run for it, but Barbie girl ran after her at superhuman speed. Thankfully, the girl was very short and only made it up a little bit past Chloe's knees – which she grabbed with her claws. Chloe shrieked again, in immense pain, as the claws _clawed_ down her legs.

When Mercer got there, she didn't hesitate to rip the girl off of the other sobbing girl.

She held the girl by the back of her shirt, who snapped her enlarged jaws and spat out blood, claws and spittle flying out as she roared, nails raking the air.

"Whoa! WHOA!" Mercer held the girl far away enough so that she couldn't touch her.

"WHOA!" she exclaimed again. "That is one _serious_ birth defect!"

She threw the dead girl away from her, scooping Chloe up and doing her best to avoid injuries.

"Get a medic!" Mercer called to Chase. Rick took Chloe as Mercer tried to alert policemen or _somebody_.

"Someone! There's – there's something in there! Please, please! My friend, she's h – hurt!" Mercer was breaking down. It was like no one was listening to her.

Finally, a policemen, took her wrist and pulled her away. he shook his head to her babbling and pulled out his IPhone, hitting the CNN app.

And a video clip played, with a news anchor talking rapidly:

"_And cemeteries everywhere have been experiencing the same thing. The dead – believe it or not – have been rising from the graves! We've had reports of seeing Roosevelt and Lincoln of all people, on the streets, eating people alive! What started these gruesome scenes, we don't know. This is happening live, people."_

They showed a clip of people running and screaming as the dead, in old clothes, running in a blur at people, sinking their fangs into random parts of the body happily as their victims screamed, flailing.

But once one was dead, they just came back to life moments after.

The clip switched to one where a brutally ripped apart old man with no arms, legs, and a giant hole in his stomach, gurgled back to life. His eyes swirled, until it was just the left eye, and the right eye still. The limbs grew back, appearing as a mix of play-doh and liquid, like wet clay. And then his jaw opened wide. Far too wide, since it broke loudly and the teeth grew crookedly, tapering off to sharp points. The nails and toenails grew long too, skin swelling. Saliva foamed around his mouth, mixed with blood.

He arched his back, and the spine snapped. This was the final form, and it shot out, leaping at the camera with sudden speed and terrifying accuracy.

The screen went blank in a burst of static.

It switched back to the reporter, who was bright green and trembling.

"_We'll be right back."_ She stammered. And then she leaned over and threw up before it cut.

Mercer turned back around ducked just in time, as another dead guy sunk his teeth into the cop, who screamed violently. Mercer was frozen. The cop screamed as claws raked along his body, easily sinking way past the muscle and skin to scrape his bones.

He fell limp when it took a particularly big bight out of his chest. And then he was just a mass of dead body, soon to become one of them.

Mercer stumbled backwards. Then she made a risky move – sweeping under the thing and steeling the dead cop's gun. She fired at the zombie. A shot to the chest didn't even faze it, but the headshot did, brains blowing out in a mess of blood and other disgusting human fluids.

So Hollywood was right. Shooting them in the head kills them.

Mercer moved backwards, whirling around and pointing the shotgun. It was then she realized how many of them there were, and they were closing in on her.

So she fired blindly, and made a run for it.

Meanwhile, Starscream and his trine commed Megatron while flying over the East coast.

"**Mission successful. Prepare the next batch. Target: Cybertron. All hail **_**Lord**_** Megatron!" **

**All right! How was that? **

**It's mainly Mercer – centric, but everyone will deal with their own problems, and pairings are gonna pop up here and there too :)**

**Personalities are going to be described with more detail, autobots should come into the picture at one point, and the zombies, their creation, and more logical explanations – as logical as you can get in the Transformers world, that is – will also be up soon.**

**Please, please review and leave a comment! You can hit the button beneath or leave a PM! I love constructive criticism and suggestions! I wanna hear from my fans! :D thanks for reading! **


	2. Decrescendo Part II

**Hi guys! Check out that awesome image cover I made! I think it looks great! Does anybody else think they look like roses? OK, so here's the next chapter! Please read the warnings back on the first chapter (trust me, it's worth the 5 seconds). Shoot me a review and you'll get a sneak peak of the next chapter! ;)**

**Uninnocent**

**Chapter 2**

**Decrescendo Part II **

**O**

**O**

**O**

A total of 5 zombies were shot. A total of 3 were actually _bothered _by the shots, and a total of 1 was actually dead. You know, for good this time. The other won was either dead or dying. Well, it was already dead…maybe it was just taking a long time to put itself back together.

But you know, we're talking 5 out of 20, most of which – strangely enough – were targeting Mercer.

And currently, she was running for her life, screaming, waving a burning hot pistol around, wanting to drop it, but not wanting to at the same time. Ooh! Brain Teaser!

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! That shit hurts like a bitch! OW!"

You'd think she'd be a bit more worried about the rapidly moving dead people tailing her.

Guess she missed that memo.

Mercer ran around wildly, just barely out of the grasp of a once lovely old couple. But they're trying to kill her, so not so lovely anymore.

She motioned to Rick, who jumped in horror at the mass of living dead on her ass.

But Tina and Becky were thankfully much quicker to react than him, and shot off the ground. Dan grabbed his girlfriend's hand, and Chase shoved Rick off the bench. Ace scooped the youngest girl up and ran. Police pulled out guns, firing. But the dead were too fast, and easily started to devour them.

"Yes! Flesh! Blood…" they moaned, like their teeth hungrily.

But the nerdiest girl, Lacey, who was crouching behind an ambulance for cover, was watching the scene happen.

"Oh god, oh god!" she was panicking, raking her own nails down her cheeks as if that'd help. What was happening? Why was this happening to her? She's never done anything bad, has she? OK, she bought a chocolate bar out of the teacher's vending machine, but that was one time!

_No no no no no no no no! This can't be happening! I don't want this! Please, oh god, oh god! Why…no…I can't…._

"Oh god!" she half hiccupped and half sobbed, feeling like throwing up. "Not me, not me, not me, not me, please, oh god…not me…" breathing heavily as she rocked back in forth on the balls of her feet, arms clutched around her sides too tightly, nails digging in.

And she vomited on the spot.

But Rick was not panicking, and eagerly got right into the action, slamming his fist into a teenage boy's face in a beautiful right hook.

"Those teeth really make acne look a hell of a lot worse!" he called to Dan, who snorted and ripped an arm off with ease, wincing as blood splattered across his chin, neck, and most of his leather jacket.

"Top that, Martinez!"

"Nah, I like my clothes blood-free!"

"HEY! You shits!" Tina shouted, waving her arms to get their attention and pointing to Mercer once she got it.

"OW! FUCK!" Tina shouted. A zombie sank it's teeth into her arm during her distraction, and ripped out a chunk. She shrieked in pain. A growing crowd of zombies surrounded her, jaws hanging wide open, tongues flicking out and around, like a snakes.

"Hungry, oh so hungry, yes, flesh! Meat! Blood! Flesh! Want more..." they moaned wistfully, eyes locked on Tina as they feasted.

"Somebody! Help me! Help me! HELP ME! PLEASE!" she screamed. Nothing could describe the absolute terror or agony in her blue eyes, the way they became half lidded as the pain overtook her, the blood loss making her dizzy. But no one was helping her as another zombie shoved its jaw into her ankle, converse tearing and landing on the asphalt as a bloody mess.

Lacey cried out, sobbing more.

Their eyes met, and Lacey moved, shakily. She stumbled over her own feet, hands reaching out to Tina.

_Have to help…don't wanna die! I'm scared! I'm so scared!_

Tina howled out again. Blood was spattering around, getting in her hair, eyes, mouth. She was crying as much as Lacey, seeing the end coming closer. The blood in Tina's eyes burned with the tears, making it look like she was crying blood.

But Lacey never made it to Tina through the haze of fear that clouded her mind. Out of them all, Lacey was the only one having a friggin' panic attack.

Becky made it to Tina first – thank god – but wielding a baseball bat.

_Say what?_

"OFF WITH THE HEAD!" she roared. Alice in Wonderland, anyone?

The first swing, as her words promised, sent the head flying to, sadly enough, Lacey's feet. Maybe it was intentional; a way of snapping her out of it, or perhaps it was unintentional. Becky was like that sometimes. Either way, the effect was good and bad. Good because she shrieked, jumped backwards, and slammed into another teen, which created a domino effect. It was bad because she threw up again. On the head. Honestly she was more surprised there had been actually been something left in her stomach.

"Oh fuck." Becky swore when she saw Tina. The tomboyish girl was lying on the ground, bleeding out with gaping wounds in her arm, leg, and clawed marks on her stomach from where they had been opening her up.

It was almost like a surgery gone wrong.

_Just with zombies instead of doctors and a victim instead of a patient_, the bat wielder thought as she dragged her away from the action, hoping no one would find her. They went back to Lacey's cover spot behind the ambulance, careful to avoid stepping on the vomit.

The trio was lucky that the ambulance was positioned just enough behind 2 police cruisers, another ambulance diagonal to them, and somebody's large Chevy truck on the other side. The back was wide open, though.

Becky's eyes searched the mass of people for someone she knew to help her, away from Lacey. Becky was strong on personality, not in medicine.

But even her stone mental strength had nothing on this – this monstrosity.

Police officers were easily being killed, their guns doing nothing to stop the living dead. If fact, they were practically helping them, being eaten alive and then coming back to life as a zombie.

A young police officer, probably the first day on the job, was being ripped to shreds by prying claws and hungry jaws. But his screams only joined the dozens more. Becky shuddered, noticeably whitening at the sight and sounds.

An unlucky paramedic was currently having his stomach ripped out, his screams became less and less as the blood crept out from under his dying body. A pair of 10 year old zombie twins was putting their mouths upon the wound, almost like they were kissing it. But they resembled leeches much more as they sucked out the blood, smearing their faces with it.

One boy chewed into the flesh, as the other shoved his claws into his intestines, pulling them out. They seemed almost fascinated by his large intestine as he ripped it out on one end and held it up in the air. His twin popped his actual stomach like a balloon with those horrid claws, fluids landing with sickening splats on the ground and mixing with the blood. Then, simultaneously, they glanced at the each other, and stuffed the bloody body parts into their mouths, teeth tearing it apart as they swallowed, only to bend back over for more and sucking up the blood. Never once did the paramedic stop screaming.

_To them, guts and blood was the equivalent to a burger and Coke_, Becky realized.

The paramedic died as the twins made their way up to his heart, screams finally ceasing. Hell, his eye was already gone. His face was still twisted in pain and terror.

Sadly, that was the only paramedic in sight.

"Becky? Becky! Please don't be a zombie!" Mercer called, shakily raising the gun.

"Bitch, if I were a zombie I'd have gone for your brains first. Or Lacey's, since you two've got, like, the biggest." The New Yorker said wryly. They let out weak laughs together. It was a bad attempt for humor, but it felt great to know that they were still alive, and human.

"We need to get the hell out of here," Mercer told her, peering through the windows of the ambulance, searching for the other guys and Chloe. Where the hell were they? She saw Rick happily fighting alongside Dan. But where were Ace, Chloe, and Chase?

As if Becky had read her mind, she pointed out something to Mercer.

"There's Ace and Chloe." Well, 2 out of 3 ain't so bad.

"Here," Mercer said, tossing her the gun. "You're dad's a cop. You know how to shoot a gun." They traded weapons. "Lacey, help Tina as much as you can. We'll see if we can get a paramedic that's still human."

The blond nodded, as pale as Becky was seeing the gore.

"Let's move!"

O

O

O

"How many of these things are there?" Rick shouted. He and Dan were back to back, fists raised. Both guys were getting more and more tired. The dead never seemed to stop coming at them, and they were seriously hurt – Dan had claw marks all over him (which hurt like hell), while Rick had several bite marks on him, and a deep scrape, 5 marks going straight down his back, from shoulder blades to torso. Every move made his back burn.

"Everyone who dies just keeps coming back. Shit, we'll probably join 'em in a few minutes at this rate!" Dan cursed his luck. This seriously sucked!

"HI-YA!" 4 zombies were knocked straight down by a baseball bat. Mercer really didn't need to shout 'Hiya!' but it was fun and she was fighting zombies. For all she knew she could be dreaming. Whatever.

"How ya doin' boys? Holding up good?" she smirked. Dan snorted. "Alright karate girl, where to?"

"Uh…haven't gotten that far in my plan yet." Mercer mumbled somewhat bashfully.

"Didn't think you'd get this far?" Rick asked.

"Hell no."

"'Course you didn't. Where're the others?"

"Lacey's with Tina – she's hurt, badly." Becky told them. "They're behind an ambulance way in the back. Ace and Chloe are by that stop sign over there. I can't see Pierce anywhere Chloe's hiding behind that Corvette – wait, where'd they go?"

They frantically scanned the area while Mercer swatted at the zombies with her bat. More were surrounding them, and she didn't have the power to take them all. Plus, it was just as disgusting as it was painful.

The zombies had started to drool, and it was all over her – it stunk too – and they had scratched at her.

"Guys!" she warned them. These zombies were all over the place, swarming them. The group stood back-to-back, Becky firing. Her aim was a bit off, but it was getting the job done.

"They're everywhere!" Rick shouted, panicky.

"WHOA!"

The front half of zombies were knocked to the side, torn to pieces as an ambulance sped in front of them.

Pierce sat in the front seat, one hand covering his eyes and the other on the wheel.

Chase was riding shotgun, an earsplitting grin on his face, Chloe was a little green, but immensely proud of the lanky boys.

"Did I get them?"

"You got 'em good, P." Chase chuckled, roughly slapping him on the back. Pierce slowly took his hand down, and the jock turned his attention to the others.

"Need a ride?"

"Hell yeah, you are two are so awesome, bro." Rick reached up to the side window and slapped Pierce's hand, grasping it.

"Tina's in the back," Chloe informed them in a small voice. "She's alive." She added.

They filed in, squeezing inside. Tina was up, pale, and bloody, but alive. "So who was the medic?" Ace asked, eyes narrowing. Tina attempted to shrug, but winced, a painful expression crossing her face. She could still feel those razor-like teeth ripping into her skin like butter, the feel of the hot blood splashing out.

"Did I miss all the action?" she croaked jokingly.

"C'mon," Pierce said, eyes on the rearview mirror. "Shit," he swore.

"Get in, get in! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" he adjusted a mirror rubbing his forehead. Man, he'd have a killer headache later.

Way in the back, a giant pinkish white person was coming up. It was sort of waddling, and it would've been funny if not for the fact that that it was ripped with bulging muscles and fists that honestly looked like it could crush a human skull like a soda can. He was so big, in fact, his powerful muscles made his body look out of proportion; his head looking like a raisin in a pumpkin patch.

It roared, slamming one giant fist onto the ground (that definitely could've crushed the pumpkin patch _and _the raisin). The cement burst into the air like a mini bomb had gone off, but it had the tremors of a nuclear explosion that bounced all the way to the group.

The ambulance was tossed into the air, landing hard. Tina cried out in pain while the others did in fear.

"DRIVE!"

Pierce slammed his foot down on the pedal and drove like mad, even though the back doors weren't closed. He swerved around anything he couldn't run over, eyebrows furrowed deep in his concentration.

"Where do I go?" he exclaimed. "Anywhere but here!" Dan snarled back. Pierce flinched at the harsh tone, but everyone was stressed right now. Lacey was still crying, and he made a mental note to ask her about those scratch marks, which were way too small to belong to one of _them_.

"Whoa! Zombie alert!" Rick shouted, clutching some sort of medical device connected to the ambulance. The doors were wide open, banging around with every movement from their new ride.

"That thing is huge!" Dan commented. "Yeah, no shit!" Mercer scowled at him.

"Becky, shoot it!"

"Why would I shoot my boyfriend?"

"He's a dick, yeah, but I'm talking about the FUCKING ZOMBIE ON OUR TAIL!"

"Oh. Right."

Becky turned the safety off, and started to get into a kneeling position – but Pierce jerked around a large chunk of rubble and mail box. She fell and shot by accident at Mercer, who had fallen back on her butt. It missed, ricocheting off something else and blowing up a water bag thingy.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry, Becky!" he called back apologetically.

"C'mon Becky, shoot it!"

She bit her lip, tongue poking out of the corner and concentrated.

It roared and the sound had them pressing on their ears.

"Shoot it; SHOOT IT!"

Becky fired. And missed. Fired again. Hit the arm. Fired again. Hit the eye. Didn't even phase it.

She gave up, turning the safety back on. "I shot it in the head and he didn't even notice it, guys. It's a waste of bullets."

"So what do we do?" Rick asked. "We need the police; this is not our job." Pierce said distractedly, trying to figure out where to go while driving erratically at full speed.

"In case you haven't noticed, the police aren't doing anything but screw up, die, and come back to life to eat us. I don't understand how we still need them." Ace snapped.

"Like you understand anything." Rick muttered.

Then who should we call, Oh-Lord-and-Respected-Master?" Dan grumbled sarcastically.

"Maybe the military, who are heading our way?" Pierce said thoughtfully, grinning a little. Finally! Someone who could help!

"What?!" Mercer jumped up.

"They heard about this thing already?"

"No way – "

"It'd already been on the news, remember?"

Military vehicles were flanking extremely good looking cars, a giant red and blue Peterbilt Semi leading the inner group.

"Stop the car!" Mercer shouted at Pierce, who shook his head. "Look behind you! We got an army of zombies or the military! You know, armed and trained to use those big fat guns and kill things! If I stop now, we're zombie shit!"

He swerved off the road, onto the sidewalk, cursing under his breath.

"Hang on!" Chase called. And then added: "Somebody shut those doors! Ace, I bet you 5 bucks someone's gonna fall out of that!"

"Only they'd bet on that," Becky mumbled. Chloe giggled. It may seem out of place, cracking jokes and making bets in the face of not fight-or-flight, but die-or-run.

Unless you'd ever been in a situation like this, you could never understand the absolute terror, the terror in the eyes of the dying, or coming so close to it again and again. Seeing your friends experience the same thing and think, _Is that what I look like now?_

"It's getting closer! Becky, shoot it! SHOOT IT!" Ace shouted, panicky.

So she fired, aiming for the head. But seriously, if it didn't even notice a bullet to the eye, it probably won't be bothered by another.

Pierce suddenly swerved again, and Becky was happy she was already used to it.

They passed by the military vehicles, and the waitress stopped shooting.

Pierce came to a stop. "We should help them." he announced.

"And do what? You seriously think 10 kids can help the Army take out killer zombies?" Dan asked, crossing his arms.

"No, but we could tell them what we know," Lacey suggested quietly. "Yeah. I think we're really the only ones who've had…a more...up close and…um…personal experience with them." Chase said, nodding, and opening his door.

Becky asked, "But hasn't CNN been, like, filming this from helicopters or what?"

"Let's see," he said, pulling out his iPhone. "It's off air." Dan announced, looking over his shoulder. Chase nodded in confirmation.

"Nothing live in on the app. Either everyone was killed before they could get a chopper out there or they're too chicken, the bitches." Ace grunted, crossing his arms.

"Just because you're annoyed with someone doesn't mean you have to call them 'bitches'." Chloe frowned.

"Wanna prove it, _bitch_?" he smirked. Rick pushed his little sister behind him and got right into Ace's face.

"Call her that again and I'll – " he snarled. "You'll what?" Ace cut him off. "You'll just end up getting your face smashed in."

They growled in an almost animalistic way, staring each other down.

Mercer snapped her fingers at them. "Hey, we're all pissed right now. But we need to do something. We'll go to the military, maybe we could hitch a ride to, like, a base or something, get our asses outta here and call our families. We can't just fight all of them! Look at big, bad, and dead over there. That'll….oh my god!"

Mercer got out of the vehicle. "Chloe, Lacey, and Ace – you guys go over there," she pointed to the parking garage to a Home Depot, "And drive with the ambulance. I want Dan, Rick, and Becky out on the field, keep those shits distracted long enough for us to think up a plan that could take those things down. Pierce, you're with me. We're talking to those guys. Move, move!"

They filed out as Ace hopped into the driver's seat.

"Alright girls! Let's drive!"

The jock was not hiding in a parking garage with 2 chicks at a Home Depot. No, he had other plans for them all.

O

O

O

"Hey! HEY!"

They called out to a soldier who looked like he was in charge. "Look, they're loading their weapons up!" Pierce told her.

"Pfft, like that'll work. These things aren't being put down by that shit anymore." Mercer grunted.

"What are you kids doing here? Listen, you need to get out of here. This is a dangerous situation and you need to get out of here right – "

Mercer cut him off and got right to the point.

"Listen, I don't give two shits about my own safety. What do you know about the zombies? Huh?" she poked him in the chest with her finger, eyes narrowed.

"Do you know what they are? What they want? Why they're killing people?" Pierce added on viscously, adjusting his glasses. OK, that kinda killed the part about the 'viciousness'.

Mercer read his nametag. 'Lennox'.

"Look around you, Lennox! Do you see that?!" she demanded. A little block of townhouses that housed seniors who always took care of pretty flowers in their window sills was on fire, crumbling to the ground. Zombies tore into living flesh, brutally, as innocents screamed.

Their wickedly sharp claws tore out eyes and limbs, caused gashes and cuts while their fangs latched onto the wounds eagerly. Their prey screamed in agony as they were torn apart, life fluids spilling out. But the zombies enjoyed it all.

One little baby zombies with claws and teeth half the size of its body tore up another woman's body, and Mercer desperately hoped that wasn't its mother. The irony would be just too cruel if it was, especially as she screamed while her eyes were ripped out and put them into his mouth as he eagerly sucked it like a candy piece.

Now blind, she flailed wildly, but another dead one gripped her arm, and blood gushed out.

She died as her baby ripped her chest cavity wide open. And Mercer, for the first time ever, saw a real human heart. Not beating, of course.

It was nothing like she'd thought it be, covered in blood and barely recognizable. It was no more once the baby ripped it out and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

They it turned its eyes on them.

The right eye kept perfectly still, while the left was pretty much out of the socket and moving around wildly, as if to keep an eye on everything.

"Dear god…" Lennox whispered.

"You missed a lot." Pierce averted his eyes from the scary scene.

"Guys, I think we need to move," Mercer whispered, nudging Pierce's arm.

"What? Why?"

The baby launched itself at them with a high pitched mix of a wail and a snarl.

The sound had them all covering their ears as Mercer leaped out of the way, tackling Lennox. Pierce hit the other side.

The baby missed them all by inches, landing on top of a black GMC Topkick. And Mercer stared as it jerked, jumping on its tires and hood breaking. No, the hood wasn't breaking, it was rearranging itself, _transforming_.

"What the _FUCK?_"

The same happened with the other Peterbilt, Hummer, and others, but Mercer turned away and looked down to force herself from throwing up. How she was throwing up at seeing the cars turn into something else and not people being eaten alive was _sorta_ weird. The stress of the day (has it really only been a day?!) must really be getting to her.

Lennox awkwardly looked at the two teens. "Uh…you missed a lot?" he tried.

Mercer facepalmed.

"Mercer!" Dan roared, prying a zombie off his body and ignoring the stinging pain in his shoulder. "How's that plan going now?! I'm fucking sick of this!"

Rick, however, was doing much worse than his buddy, but noticed something else.

"MERCER! LOOK OUT!" he bellowed.

The giant ass zombie moved surprisingly quickly, and pounded its fist on the ground.

BOOM!

Every human on the block was knocked off their feet and thrown around. The ground vibrated, like an earthquake, and she hit the ground hard, grunting. The cement shattered like glass, breaking apart and exploding. Lennox, Mercer, Rick, and Dan propped themselves up onto their elbows and watched as it grew up another 10 feet into the air, making it a total of 18 feet tall.

"…The hell?"

"RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES!" someone shouted.

No one needed to be told twice.

**O**

**O**

**O**

**Mercer really can't plan ahead, can she?**

**OK, hope you liked that and didn't throw up or cry. I kinda don't like how some things turned out, and like I said last A/N, this is mainly Mercer-centric, and I'm focusing on emotions like fear, pain, and anger. With some twisted love and all that stuff I know lots of people love:) Tell me how I'm doing, like if I'm adding too much humor into the POV (even if it a little dry haha), or my grammar mistakes – I repeat words a lot, especially 'I' and 'and'. **

**So yeah, I love to hear from you guys whether it's good or bad, thanks for reading! Shoot me a review!**


	3. Room 366

**Hi guys. Sorry for the uber-long wait, but there has been some serious family issues going on, and I had to take a break from writing for a bit. But it's mostly cleared up now, so don't worry about that. Updates should come up a lot faster now. So…um…I'll say something after the chapter! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Never have, never will. Sucks for me.**

**Warnings: Read the end of the top A/N in the first chapter, please. **

**Uninnocent**

**Chapter 3**

**Room 366**

The Earth seemed to burst from under their feet – that was the first tragically (yet beautiful) poetic thing that seemed to pop into Tina's head. The first regular thought that came into her head was something like: _holy fucking shit what the hell is up with the universe today?_

She tumbled as the world titled over, jostling her injuries. She fought the urge to vomit and let out a hoarse scream instead, barely lasting longer than 2 seconds.

It was so tiring, being scared all the time.

Again, she flashed back to the yellowish, razor-like teeth tearing into her hungrily, the feel of the blood, hot and sticky, running down her body, soaking into her clothes, shoes, and socks. It sprayed her eyes, stinging them. But it was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling then.

Gasping out of it, she realized the ambulance had titled, teetering on the edge, but regained an even balance. Sort of scary there.

But it was OK. It was all OK. She was Ok. Everything was gonna be OK.

OK, that's bullshit, but whatever.

OK.

What?

This pointless inner debate was going obviously not going anywhere, so she decided to open her previously closed eyes and looked out the window.

The ambulance lurched again, and this time it went down. Everything bounced. Some things snapped on impact, others just tumbled around, and the windows burst. It created way too many hazards in a fucking ambulance to be considered normal. Or safe, for that matter.

But Tina was anything _but_ safe.

So she crawled military style, ignoring the sharp glass digging into her skin, pressing into bruises and already-there-cuts. Thankfully, nobody else was severely harmed – Chloe was shaking violently, hiccupping sobs slipping out. Ace was shaking roughly shaking Lacey from her fetal position on the seat, but otherwise they were fine.

Tina crawled out the back door, stumbling out and lying on the ground, panting. She was pale, out of breath. _And so, so fucking _tired, she thought. Her body ached all over, and her wounds were still open, so they began to bleed mildly again. She cursed inwardly. And then outwardly. It was soft at first. But then she began to shriek in rage at everything. The stupid zombies, her stupid dead mother, her stupid cuts and stupid pain, the stupid world she lived in and the stupid life she was stupidly stuck with. Her angry screams slowly turned to angry shouts, and angry shouts soon turned back to words, and words turned into her tears. The tears turned into hysterical sobs.

And she cried. Tina cried her heart out at everything, for everything.

Optimus stared down at the creature. This was none of nature's work.

Right?

What could've caused this abomination? It wasn't even his height, of course. He had to look down to see it, see the humans frightened and screeching with their vocals, wearing themselves out as they ran in all directions. No one made it too far; the others – the 'almost' humans – got to them first. He flinched within his CPU and looked away. Unlike Cybertronians, they didn't have replaceable limbs. They weren't made up of the same metal and wires as them, didn't have the backup files to restore their memories in the case of amnesia, the limbs to be reattached if it were to be lost. It wasn't possible, just didn't factor with them. Not completely. Cybertronians could almost relate to that. Their sparks weren't replaceable. But that was pretty much it. Everything else could be replicated and replaced. Both species are different, he supposed. But the similarities do not end there.

He finally shot at the creature. It went splat. Well, at least part of it did. It's the thought that counts, right?

Most of its upper right side was gone, and the ear. But it just let out an angry, and possibly humiliated roar, lunging for the Prime. Ironhide shot it down faster than any human could process. This time, it did die.

But this was only one out of many.

Mercer turned back to Lennox, and stared past him at the robot with flames. The same she'd seen when Kat'z had still been standing. She stared, and Optimus Prime stared back, blue optics gazing steadily, brightly, filled with intelligence, experience, and life. No human could copy that look. It was impossible.

And Mercer was mesmerized. "…The fuck?"

Yeah right.

Pierce gasped. Pointed. Stuttered. Typical. Mercer slapped his hand down and turned to Lennox.

"I explained killer zombies eating people alive. You tell me why there are 30 foot tall transforming robots with kickass guns staring at me."

Lennox rubbed his hand across his face. "My boss is gonna kill me," he mumbled, sighing. "OK, short version: the Peterbilt is Optimus Prime, leader of the autobots. They aren't robots. They're sentient, and come from the planet Cybertron. They can transform and disguise themselves as Earth cars. They're at war with the decepticons, led by Megatron – he wants to take over the world and enslave the human race. Typical Marvel comic thing. Um, the GMC Topkick is Ironhide, weapons specialist. Jazz is the Pontiac Solstice, head of espionage and Prime's third in command. The Hummer is Ratchet, medic and chief medical officer. Don't talk back at him. He's pissy. Their planet is dead and they are a dying species protecting Earth from the 'cons. Think about that."

Pierce broke his gaze from them and stared back at Lennox. "…The fuck?"

This was totally another facepalm moment, but Mercer decided she'd already overused that motion and sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe we should start by takin' out those fires." The silver one with the visor, Jazz said. He had a deep accent.

Optimus nodded. "Jazz, get those fires taken out. Ratchet, assist. Ironhide and I will take out these…creatures."

"Holy frag!"

Jazz jumped as a brave little dead thing latched onto his ped and began to tear into him. More and more climbed up, and Jazz kicked, sending a good bunch of them flying and smacking into other buildings. Some fell apart, limbs crumbling and breaking off.

"Things are like slagging scraplets," Ironhide grunted and blew some up, spraying human bits everywhere.

"Gross…" Lennox wiped a bloody ear off his chest.

Something large groaned, and the screams increased briefly before there was a mighty crash. Everyone whirled around. A very large apartment building, filled with hiding people, came crashing down.

"Hit the ground!"

The humans fell hard, while the autobots just turned away. The ground vibrated like another earthquake, and glass rained down on them. There was a steady silence. It was far too quiet. Fires had broken out, and while not major, were burning things down. Humans were spread all over the ground. A part of Mercer (most of her) were wishing they were all dead. But the other part was recoiling in shock. The dead had their eyes open, and one, a girl that looked strikingly like her, had its dead gaze stuck right at her. She shivered. Blood had turned most of the street red. If CSI ever had a movie, it would kinda look like this. Flames licked a Toyota, long ago blown up. And then a moan. _Oh god, not another..._, Mercer thought, blood freezing in her veins.

The fallen building was once a major one that belonged to a law firm company, Penny-Whelks. There was proof when a window was kicked out, and a middle ages snarling woman staggered out. She had a tight black pencil skirt, red ruffled blouse, 4 inch heels, and perfectly curled blond hair. But her manicured nails were now long, curled, and yellowed like her fangs. The left eye spun. Pierce was pretty sure that was Amanda Penny, the co. owner. Now where was John Whelks? Oh, that business suit guy. He wasn't in any better shape than Amanda Penny was.

"That whole place must be crawling with zombies." Lennox breathed. "Man, we won't be able to take this shit down. This ain't a video game. I'd need my chainsaw first." Epps laughed a little, but it faded away awkwardly.

"Tell me about it," Pierce muttered.

And then, simultaneously, the building seemed to burst as zombies kicked their way out. Clawed hands reached outward comically. "Raghhh…."

You know, that sounded _way_ better out loud than it did in Mercer's head.

Dan said something that summed the whole situation up pretty nicely:

"This sucks shit."

Multiple heads nodded in agreement, and then the dead attacked. It didn't take too long before the alive realized they were terribly outnumbered, close to being surrounded, and very scared.

By the time Mercer had lost count of how many things she'd hit with her bat, she'd bumped into Lennox as they hid behind a large maroon Jeep Patriot for cover. "You doing good?" the teen panted. Lennox let out a little breathy laugh. "Not really."

But his expression became serious quickly as he watched another one of his men get killed. "That's it." he muttered. "Retreat!" he shouted, and then he radioed it. "Retreat! We're outnumbered, I'm calling a drawback, over." he sighed, hands shaking. "This isn't working out for us,"

"What about air support?" Epps asked. "These things won't get hurt without a dead on hit to the head. otherwise they just put themselves back together again. It's like Humpty Dumpty gone wrong." Mercer replied easily, punching a zombie in the face and swinging her bat to rip it apart. Lennox shot in the head.

"Yo Mercer!" Ace shouted. He was half carrying, half supporting Tina. Lacey was clutching to Pierce and Chloe was in the middle of the 2 pairs.

"Let's get the fuck outta here!"

The military returned to their SUVs and drove, speeding away. Mercer felt like hyperventilating, though she honestly didn't really understand why. After all this time, she was panicking over the little stuff. The autobots (also weird and a good reason to start hyperventilating) followed, providing cover for them.

"Hey, where's Chase?" Chloe inquired.

"Epps has Chase over in a different SUV," Lennox informed them all. "The kid got caught up with a bunch of zombies. Ironhide and Jazz saved his ass, though."

O

O

O

Nobody was really sure how it happened, but the group of 10 was at NEST base several hours later, with a Director Charlotte Mearing on their case and not believing two shits about what had happened. Becky and Chase murmured rude and inappropriate comments about her a little distance away. The autobots had introduced themselves; Lennox and Epps had given them a briefing on that situation, and then interrogated them on the zombies. The group was proving to be useful, in all honesty.

That had been hours ago. Now the gang (as Rick was calling it), was spread out all over the room. Pierce was talking to a team of the more scientific side of NEST, Ace was with Ironhide, and Lacey was curled up on the couch, trembling slightly and sipping hot chocolate. Another redheaded woman was talking to her. Lacey's scratch marks had been tended to, and had little white bandages in spots of her face. It looked like a wild cat had been thrown at her. Dan, Rick, and Chloe were sitting on an old, rusty-looking couch, watching CNN on the big screen. Tina was in the medbay.

Mercer was sort of 'representing' the gang now, because Mearing made everyone want to beat the shit out of her. Mearing. Mercer. Those names were way too similar to feel good. They debated back and with Lennox about what they should do with the gang.

"They're unauthorized civilians on a top secret military base. Why would I be mad?" Mearing was saying.

"Excuse me, Director," Lennox cut in, "But they are civilians on a military base with a large amount of intel. We don't know what we're up against, what's going on, or how to beat this freaky thing. These guys can help us. They've survived this entire thing on their own, and watched it all happen from the start. They know how to fight and how to kill them. They saw the effects of losing to one. If we don't have them – if we kick them out – we'll be crippling ourselves. And I will make sure they get _authorized_." He spat out.

Mearing shot him a heavy glare and shook her head, "I don't think – "

Mercer cut her off this time, "I don't give a rat's ass about what you think. Listen up, woman, man, shemale, whatever you are, you need us and we need you. We can all end this. Get it through your head; we aren't leaving."

The whole hangar fell silent.

The director stared. And stared. Epps muttered, "…the fuck?" under his breath. It sorta broke away a piece of the tension. To the soldiers, this was some really interesting shit going on.

"Alright," Mearing sighed, to the shock of the room. "You and your little _gang _can stay…for now. That clearance I'm giving you is only temporary. If you break any rule, any rule at _all, _I'll have your clearance gone and all of you kids off the country faster than you can say '_rat's ass'_."

She snapped something at her assistant and briskly left. Slowly, very slowly, the hangar went back to their own business.

"Man, that was the best shit I've ever seen." Epps grinned. "I can't believe you got her to shut the hell up like that."

Lennox laughed a little and nodded. Mercer only smiled politely. "So have you been able to contact our parents yet?" it was blunt, but Mercer was quickly getting more and more worked up over it.

The two soldiers became solemn fast, frustration overcoming Lennox's facial expression. "Your parents are traveling, right?" he asked. She nodded. "There's been…trouble."

"The thing is," said Epps. "Your parents are in South Korea. And these shit eating zombies are all over the world now. It's taken over the airports. We're in the process of contacting your folks. It'll just take time."

Lennox picked it up there, "And I'm in the process of getting your folks overseas and to the base. While you guys are our priority as of now, your parents aren't – yet, according to Mearing. I'm trying to convince her that this is out of her department, but she's saying it's a security risk when it really isn't."

"But in the meantime, you can video chat instead." Epps nodded, looking proud of himself.

Mercer was still worried, but she did a great job of hiding it and grinned back at the two. "That's great guys; I really appreciate you doing this on top of everything else."

"And Mr. and Mrs. Martinez, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Jackie, Mr. Mathews, the Stones, Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, and Mr. Robert will be here as soon as we can get them past security."

Mercer nodded.

One problem down. Now, like a hundred to go. Whoo fucking hoo.

They group drifted apart, the guys to work and Mercer to wander around aimlessly. NEST base was gigantic, and before she knew it, she was lost down a gigantic hallway, thinking about that book from Kat'z.

"Are you looking for something?" Mercer jumped and turned. The one with the flames, the one she saw in the fire – who also happened to be a giant as killer robot leader – was behind her. How he came up unnoticed was beyond her.

"I-I um…"

Very intelligent.

"I got a little lost." She smiled sheepishly up at him, who nodded understandingly back at her.

"Didn't one of the soldiers give you a tour?" he asked. The young human shook her head, no. "I think I missed it, actually. I had to talk to Will and Epps about some stuff."

The Prime tilted his head to the side. "If you choose so, I would be honored to give you a tour myself."

Mercer looked a little taken aback by that, pausing. "…Sure."

He kneeled, holding his hand out to her. Nervously, she got the message and stepped up his hand, clutching his pinky finger tightly. He slowly stood, and began the tour.

They went to multiple hangars, everywhere from the military (human) barracks, to the autobot barracks and offices. Ratchet shooed them out of the medbay, and they went to the rec. room. It was probably Mercer's favorite part of the tour, where they saw the other autobots and humans alike mingling, eating, and just chilling.

They saw briefing/meeting rooms, and more hangars. It was pretty cool to watch Bumblebee assist in training the humans for Mercer. She and Optimus chatted a bit about the little things – stuff that ranged from what food they served on Fridays at the Mess Hall to what Cybertron looked like. Talking came surprisingly easy between them. At some point, Mercer ended up sitting on his shoulder. She really couldn't remember when or why, but she did. And she kinda liked it.

When they next passed an autobot (it happened to be Jazz), they got a double take behind their backs.

Soon, a few minutes after the tour, they found Lennox, who gave Mercer a map of NEST with so many lines in it she was dizzy for a few seconds. A schedule was also passed over, with the breakfast times, lunchtimes, and dinnertimes were, when the Mess Hall was open, when was this and that and blah, blah, blah. Her keycard, Lennox explained, was her key to life, apparently. It would open most doors and her own room. It was like her ID card, her pass.

Optimus bid her goodbye, and Lennox took her to the barracks. Mercer was in room 366, in the very back of the barracks. Apologetically, Lennox explained how her room was basically just leftover for extra soldiers.

"But we are doing renovations soon, so we'll be able to get you and your friends bigger and better rooms after a bit." He'd said.

Her room was a light peach color, and a dark green rug covered the floor. It was very small, squeezing in a twin sized bed, a side table with a digital alarm clock on it, and a plain metal desk and chair. The desk supported a lamp, and the table was uneven, rocking from side to side a lot. There was a cup, with 'I Heart Autobots' written on it. She called it her welcoming gift. A set of 3 wooden drawers was pushed to the foot of the bed, and a closet was next to the desk. There was a counter with a sink, mini fridge, and a tiny microwave. It had no window, but it had a fan and a little air-conditioning vent off to the side. It was set to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, but she changed it to 71. The cold felt nice.

Mercer stood in the room, trying to think of something to do. She ended up highlighting her main routes and figuring out the routes, making her own key at the bottom to figure it out. And then, bored to death, she left the room and made her way to the Mess Hall for dinner.

There, soldiers had just started gathering to get food, and Mercer had a warm – if not a little salty – soup. It made her feel good and cozy inside, comforting her worries. Lennox, Epps, Dan, Rick, and Chloe ended up joining her minutes after she sat down. Chase, Pierce, Becky, and Lacey were visiting Tina in the medbay; they'd eat later.

Chloe hugged her tightly, and Mercer returned it half-heartedly. Her friends were all in rooms further away from hers, Chloe and Lacey in room 212 and 213. Rick and Dan in room 517 and 523. According to Epps, Tina should be going to room 209 once she's out of the medbay.

"So what about our parents? Will we be able to call them soon?" Chloe suddenly burst out. Mercer patiently explained the situation, and Chloe's eyes weld up with tears. Mercer squeezed her hand reassuringly.

To anyone else, it looked like Mercer wasn't all too concerned with it, but to them, it was a promise of 'we'll make it work'.

They split up again, and it suddenly felt like things were moving way too fast for Mercer. She felt so tired.

Mercer bumped into the redhead who had been comforting Lacey earlier, and literally ended up sending them both sprawling by accident.

"I'm so sorry!" they both exclaimed.

Laughing a little, they stood up. "Sorry about that, I'm Valerie Abernathy. You must be one of those new civilians from that big incident at Kat'z?" Mercer nodded. "I'm Violet Mercer, but you can just call me Mercer."

"Alright then."

For a second they said nothing.

And then Valerie muttered, "Awkward…um, so what room are you in?"

"366."

"Cool, my roommate Danica and I are in 365. Do you have all of your stuff?"

Mercer's head spun for a second. Roommate? What stuff?

"You've got a roommate? I'm not with anybody." She replied. Valerie nodded. "Your room is one of the extras is all. No one to share it with, but it's ultra tiny."

A woman by Mercer's room poked her head and spotted the two. "What's holding you, Val?" she asked. The woman had dark tanned skin and long, straight black hair. Her eyes were hard, but had a light glint in them. She was the exact opposite of Valerie's shorter, curly red hair, pale skin, and shiny, mirth-filled eyes.

Mercer figured the dark haired woman must be Danica. "Hi, I'm Mercer."

Danica gazed at her with a steady, critical eye that would have anyone else flinching – but not Mercer. Not with the day she's had. Mercer kept eye contact, raising an eyebrow.

"A picture would last longer, you know," the teen grinned. The line was totally overused, but it fit in with the moment. Danica backed off and turned to Valerie and shrugged. The redhead giggled and led Mercer into their room.

The walls were peach, but it had double everything. Two twin bunks, a closet double the size of hers, two sets of 3 drawers, 2 desks, a bigger microwave and sink, and the peach walls were covered with posters of anime, movies, music, and books (Naruto, Batman, Skrillex, and Maximum Ride in that order). It made her want to laugh. It just looked so homey, so relaxed and owned. There was even a small couch just barely big enough for two people.

"This place is so cool," she breathed. They laughed. "It's still small, but it's good. So, do you have everything you need? I heard you just took off with the team." Mercer nodded in confirmation. "Oh, that sucks. Here," Danica dug into the drawers and pulled out an Army hoodie, plain T – shirt, and sweats. Then she dug into another drawer, and tossed her some travel sized toiletries.

"You can use these, and don't worry about giving the clothes back. I'm sure one of us will be able to find a store soon and get you what you need. We don't mind, right Val?" the other nodded, still smiling.

"Thanks so much," Mercer smiled back. She left the room kind of awkwardly, but it was OK. The roommates didn't seem to care. Swiping the card, Mercer stepped into her room and changed into the sweats.

Then she collapsed on the bed and conked out. It had been one hell of a day.

**Sorry about grammar mistakes, and if it was poorly written. Tell me how it was, and how I did with Optimus. I've never really written him like this before, you know, like he should be. In **_**Summit**_**, he's like, half dead haha. I have some really good stuff coming up, but I want to set up some more, I dunno, like foundation between their relationships with other characters. You'll see more autobots next time and lemme know when I start to drag it all out too much! **

**So, um, please shoot me a review, I really love those! They help me keep going. Nothing can describe how I feel when I keep getting reviews! I love constructive criticism! **

**And if you noticed, I changed the summary and my username. I hated the last one. **

**Hope you enjoyed! Gimme some feedback! :D**

**F.W.C 3**


	4. Not The Only Ones

**Hey guys! I am so, so sorry! I know my updates are terrible, but I'm trying, k? I know it's been two months, and I suck, I'm sorry. And this chapter isn't really my best, because it's a filler. Don't worry, there's a lot more action to come, so please try not to get bored with me, send me few comments in a review, and I'll update extra fast, k? K.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TF. It belongs to Michael Bay and Hasbro.**

**Uninnocent**

**Chapter 4**

**Not The Only Ones**

_Fire in the Water_

There was fire in the water.

Erupting around the world.

Dragging everything down with it.

Destroying us, one by one.

Million by million.

Eliminating.

Mearing slammed the tablet down onto the table. "Just what the hell is this crap?" she shouted, glaring at Lennox. He the army Major exchanged glances with Epps.

"It's today's paper, Director," Lennox informed her. "From the _New York Times_. An anonymous person sent in a short poem about…recent events. The reporter says it's their personal statement, meant to describe his feelings about it."

"And it made the front page, right along with 'recent event's!" Mearing snapped. She read aloud:

_Although our military are saying it's 'under control', many are still terrified. Worse, this is happening worldwide. Hundreds are still dying and coming back to life. The President has released a statement about this, and will be making a speech about this so called 'zombie attack' Tuesday tonight at 7:15. _

_This 'zombie attack', as described by witnesses, began around noon yesterday. The most notable one was in Washington DC, at a popular café, when it exploded. The details are not clear, just that fire spread fast and killed nearly everyone inside. The estimate was around 100-150. _

_When the building had burned down to the ground, it was then was there something unusual. Everyone dead slowly revived themselves. Our source describes it as: "It was quiet, gone, a blackened area…and then there was the sound of something breaking. Rubble shifting…and we saw dead bodies kind of moving around on their backs, wiggling a little – like a bug – it was freaky. Their left eye rolled in place, never stopping. It stayed in, but I think it wasn't connected anymore, you know? Their nails grew long, like a foot, and the toenails did too. Razor sharp and yellow-ey, it made the skin around swell up and turn purple. Then they opened their mouth so wide, I heard their jaws break. The teeth grew like the nails did, but they were each like giant canines and still yellow, all crooked and stuff. Spit everywhere. Then they arched their backs and sort of roared. I heard their spines break. Right in half, I think. It was probably a clean snap. Like a twig."_

_But the living dead don't think like we do. Another source says, "After it…came [back] to life, it sort of just stared. They moved so fast, and I say them lift all these slabs of rocks from the rubble away. It was probably all in the nails. They moaned after seeing humans, and then it moved so fast, it was almost a blur. It kept saying things such as 'hungry' and 'thirsty', and then it started…to eat people. Sank their teeth in and sort of scooped it up. They drank the blood and ate the flesh. Mostly the insides, like the guts, the organs and sometimes eyes and all that. They could talk, but it was mostly like mumbles and moans, like they were really desperate; I honestly think they aren't too intelligent. More like…instinctive."_

_And instinctive they are. Many are saying that this was what humanity would like if we had less thought, less of everything. At the same time, many are saying to act. To drop the politics and fight._

_The military has also released a statement, saying all is under control, with no further comment._

_They say they've got it, but do they really?"_

Mearing glared daggers at the two military men. "This is under control? What the hell compelled you to release this statement?"

"With all due respect, Director," Lennox said, narrowing his eyes a fraction, "It was General Morshower who had that statement released. We had no say in it. You can take your complaints to him, not us, Director."

The director met his gaze and turned away, shouting and insulting everyone around her.

"I don't give a damn Lennox, just do something! You have no idea how bad this looks! We look powerless, defenseless! And nobody knows what the hell is going on, what to do, nothing! Does it look under control?"

She slammed the door shut behind him.

"It'd be under control if we could cut the paperwork and get our asses out into the field," Epps muttered.

The major shook his head at the door. The world was falling apart and he was worried about the press. That poem was right. Fire was in the water, and it was taking the world down.

O

O

O

Faces.

They flashed by Mercer – so vivid, but so fast they were hard to make out. Some were so crystal clear it hurt. She saw dead people, a mass of dead bodies littering the ground. Faces of zombies that had attacked her came back, and then a picture of what they might've looked like before. When they were human. Normal. Alive.

Words gathered in her head, hushed whispers. They murmured to her, said things she wasn't supposed to know. Not yet.

_He's coming…the plan of attack…death….hidden away, worthless. _

_Fight…._

_Fight!_

_FIGHT!_

_**FIGHT!**_

Mercer's eyes flew open as she sat up so fast she almost fell back down again. She bit back a cry of frustration and sighed instead, running her hand through her hair, stopping mid-way at a tangle of knots. Stupid hair. Stupid dreams. Stupid everything. She checked her phone. Two texts from mom. A bunch of likes on Facebook for that picture of her looking down a 20 story building.

Frowning, Mercer rolled over and buried her face into the pillow. What had the dream been about? She'd seen something, and it might've been important. For a few seconds, the teen concentrated on trying to remember it.

And then, giving up, she got out of bed and pulled her clothes on, stretching and sighing. The clock said 8:21 AM. To her, it felt like noon.

Mercer was a naturally organized person. So spending most of her morning making a list of things she needed wasn't so abnormal for her.

_Clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, socks, maybe a new pair of Nikes. Or Vans. Or Converse. Hers were too ratty now. A zombie had made a very close bite to her foot and almost ripped the entire sole off. Good thing she hadn't been wearing sandals. Or, God forbid, heels. She'd have had an amputation on her foot yesterday. _

_More comfortable blankets and pillows…food, maybe? Yeah, they got her a fridge, microwave, and a sink. That's like an invite for some food. So that meant a set of plastic silverware and plates. Definitely a bottle of water or two…a hairbrush would be nice, too._

She snatched a map of the base and left to find her way back to the Mess Hall, still trying to comb her hair with her fingers.

_Next right…take that next left…where the hell am I?_ she thought, looking up. This didn't look familiar.

"Do you need help?" Mercer turned around. It was Lennox. "That'd be great, thanks." She said, relieved. "No problem. I was just about to grab something to eat anyway, meet up with Epps." He nodded.

They passed by giant robots as they walked. Each time Mercer's eyes would widen a little, but Lennox seemed unaffected by it, even saying 'hi' to a few. A couple times he'd say their name, and she'd do her best to memorize it and that face. Ironhide. Jazz. Sideswipe. Prowl. Arcee. Sunstreaker, but he hadn't acknowledged them like the rest of the autobots had. He seemed like a pissy kind of person, like Ratchet. But more serious. It wasn't as funny with him as it was with Ratchet. He looked ready to kill them all.

Lennox was still unaffected by it. This was probably routine for him. For most soldiers.

"How do you get so used to it?" Mercer asked him. He laughed out loud.

"You just need to accept it. They're very…human, in a lot of ways. It's not that different from talking with someone else. I see them every single day, so I got used to it fast. Actually, I've been with them from the start. Well, right after Archibald Witwicky."

"Who?"

"He was an explorer, a long time ago. He started the whole thing by leading an expedition to the Arctic, where the ice was accidently broken and he fell through. Underneath was Megatron, and he accidently revived him somehow," he told her. "There was this thing too, a cube, called the Allspark. It basically brings the life to a Transformer, a Cybertronian. It was powerful, but hidden away from the decepticons. The coordinates for it were engraved into Witwicky's glasses, and passed down from that generation to the next. Archibald was deemed insane, but Megatron's body was kept in chryo-stasis from that point on, in Hoover Dam, along with the Allspark. Cars, jets, planes, everything modern was reverse engineered from his body. The whole thing was kept quiet. It wasn't until the autobots traced it back here did it come up again. By then, the glasses belonged to Sam Witwicky, a high school kid. But when they got to Hoover Dam, Megatron had been freed and they had to fight for the glasses. Sam had the cube, and shoved it up Megatron's chest to kill him and save the world."

"That's kind of amazing." She admitted.

He chuckled. After they got their food, Epps waved them over to a table. Becky, Chase, Dan, Lacey, and Tina were sitting at the table too. There was a pair of crutches by her side, and she was very pale.

"Doc Bot finally let me go." She smiled, noticing Mercer's concerned expression. "But I need to be back later for a checkup and some meds." Tina added.

Ace and Rick joined them a second later, trays piled high with food. They wolfed it down as the group discussed recent events together.

"A notice has been sent out so that everyone will know how to tell a zombie from a human," Epps grunted, sipping his Coke. "We can't have random people killing each other for no reason."

"So it official, then?" Pierce asked. "The zombie evasion has begun?" he said it jokingly, and Becky tossed a grape at him.

"Yeah, it's official. Zombies do exist."

"Has the entire country been hit?" Chase asked. Epps nodded.

"Yeah. You're only lucky if you live nowhere close to a cemetery. Everyone who does is probably dead by now. And you know, there are people buried deep down in the earth. They might be digging they're ways up, right this second."

For a brief moment, everyone paused to consider that.

"So what are we doing about it?" Dan asked, eyebrow raised. Ace stopped mid-chew to listen.

"Everything we can do, kid. We've got our guys down their kicking some zombie ass and saving hundreds of people. We got guys in the labs trying to figure out what triggered this all, how this is possible. If there're other things possible, too. Vampires. Werewolves. Witches and wizards. Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga might be true stories." Epps grinned, chomping down on his omelet.

"We're actually lucky," Lennox said. "This city is pretty much untouched."

"What about our families?" Lacey prompted. "Can we get them down here?" her lip quivered. The two soldiers shared a look.

"We're doing our best now, but security's tight now. We don't know anything." Epps said kindly.

"Which is why you're all going in for questioning later," Lennox added. "Mearing's gonna talk to you about what you saw at the café. But the second she thinks you're useless, she's going to get you sent out of here and back home. I can't change that, and she'll want you out of here no matter what, but I'm trying."

Chloe came in then, her clothes and hair messy. She obviously hadn't changed her clothes or bothered to brush her hair. There were dark rings around her eyes, which were a little too wide at the moment.

She didn't get any food, just sat down in between Rick and Mercer. Becky pushed her little cup of grapes to her. The young girl numbly pushed one into her mouth.

"Are you OK?" Rick asked, concerned for his little sister. Chloe didn't respond. Instead, she took her cups of grapes in one hand and slid off the bench.

"I don't think anyone's gonna be OK after this." She said slowly, eyes a little unseeing. She walked emotionlessly to the door. There was no bounce in her step, no little skip. Nothing. Just walking stiffly, like there was a broomstick taped to the back of her spine.

It got awkward after that. What she said was scary, sent shivers to the back of their spines. If life was a horror movie, this was probably how it would look.

Epic hit. Might make a few billion.

_I don't think horror movies will ever be the same for me again,_ Mercer thought.

O

O

O

The whole group of teens had been assigned temporary autobot guardians. Mercer felt a little lucky that Jazz had been assigned to her, and not Sunstreaker. He'd been assigned to Dan, ironically enough.

They'd been taken to the mall, where they were all escorted in with their holoforms. The group split up into pairs, one bot and one human each, and left.

What was expected to be a boring trip was actually very different.

First, it seemed like the whole place was on lockdown. The shops didn't say they were closed, but they might as well have been. Lights were dim, there was almost nobody there, and the windows were sealed shut. Mercer spotted knives and guns hidden away, some cheap and some actually good, everywhere. There was no one that wasn't ready to fight right at that moment. There were police patrolling the areas.

Jazz chattered the whole way about everything and nothing. He commented on everything she chose. So instead of jeans, Nikes, and a plain colored T-shirt, she'd gotten four skinny jeans, a bunch of graphic T-shirts, Aeropostale T-shirts, Abercrombie&Fitch, all the popular names, tank tops, Vans, Converse, Uggs, and black leather boots, two pajama sets, a Tinker Bell hoodie, three different jackets (each by The North Face), a digital watch that was waterproof and had a pretty swirl of colors – blue, black, and purple – plus she got a stereo and almost every CD that wasn't the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus.

They'd done a little grocery shopping and bought a box of Froot Loops, a quart of milk, a six pack of Sprite, and a little case of water. She'd picked up all her toiletries, too.

Then there had been a very embarrassing trip to Victoria's Secret, where Jazz had urged her to get something that 'made her feel like a real woman'.

Mercer died a little inside that day.

They all met up back at the parking lot 3 hours later. Mercer had the most bags. And to everybody's shock, Dan's came to a close second. Sunstreaker looked smug.

The group had a conversation through the bots' radios, laughing and chatting the whole way. Chloe seemed to be feeling better. Wherever she had gone after the Mess Hall had left her in a brighter mood.

Since there was nothing else to do until around 6 o'clock, when they'd be interrogated with Mearing, Mercer stepped into the shower. The hot water felt great, relaxing. But not matter how many times she washed herself, she felt dirty. Bloody image shot by her eyes, and frantically she scrubbed herself red and raw. By the end of it, she had sunk to the floor, crying.

But when she got out 10 minutes later, she felt refreshed. Clean.

Alive.

At 6 o'clock, Mercer met up with Rick, where they talked along the way to the rec. room, where they'd be explaining what they saw to Optimus, Mearing, and video chatting with General Morshower.

"How was the trip for you?" Rick asked. Small talk. "You got a lot of stuff."

Mercer had a feeling he saw the Victoria's Secret bag, and she flushed. "I had a bad influence with me. Weren't you with Sideswipe?" the name came smoothly, which was a first for her. Maybe she was finally adjusting.

He nodded. "Yup. Funny gu – bot." he caught himself before he slipped up and called him a guy. A human. Maybe this was a good sign?

"They're not that different, you know." Mercer said. "The autobots are just as human as you and me." Rick nodded, but there was hesitation in his eyes, a bit of doubt and disbelief. She let it go. He'd get it soon.

They showed the soldiers their passes, and they were let into the rec. room. It was gigantic, with a bunch of catwalks, high-tech computers, and the most autobots they'd seen ever seen together. Humans hurried around with files, Macbook Airs, and notes to one another. Mudflap and Skids were shouting and shoving at each other.

Mercer spotted Lennox talking to Mearing. "This is where we talk to the JCS…"

"JCS is up, sir!" a solider announced. The screen flickered, and General Morshower was shown.

"We have very important intel, sir," Lennox started, as the room shut up. "And we would like to discuss, with Optimus Prime, our newest Director, Charlotte Mearing, and one of the few…surviving witnesses."

"Proceed." Morshower nodded.

Optimus transformed, something Mercer was still in awe of, and they made their way up the catwalk with her friends, carefully keeping tabs on Tina to make sure she didn't trip with her crutches. It's already happened twice.

"Sir, I'd like to introduce you to Violet Mercer, Chloe Martinez, Ricardo Martinez, Tina Drew, Rebecca Stone, Lacey Stewart, Ace Johnson, Chase Gardner, Daniel Jackie, and Pierce Mathews."

A few hellos were muttered, and Mercer started to tell him the story.

"It started out at that café, called Kat'z," she began. "And then there were these guys moving boxes. Everything was fine, until it blew up."

Each of them explained what they had seen, what it was like. The experience.

"They aren't human, they aren't really thinking." Chloe said quietly.

"They're dead for a few seconds," Becky remembered. "And then they start to break. Their spine breaks, their teeth grow into these big, yellow fangs that hang all over their mouths. The nails are like claws. Long, razor-sharp. Cuts through anything and everything. Their jaws break and they scream. Then they get up, and their left eyeball is rolling around everywhere, really fast. They run really fast, too. And strong. They're crazy strong."

"But they aren't smart," Pierce said thoughtfully. "They're…hungry. They need to eat really badly. It's why they attack people. To rip through people's stomach and eat their insides, drink blood. They can sort of talk. They just moan and groan about food, needing to eat and that they're so hungry."

"The only way to kill them is to shoot them straight through the heads." Ace spoke up. "I think the only thing that really works inside them is their brains. But once their heads are opened, they're gone forever. Missing limbs or eyeballs or whatever doesn't bother them. It's just the head."

"I think their nervous system is dead," Lacey muttered, very white.

"But the last thing we saw before we left was that law firm crash. It was this giant building, and it just…sort of toppled over," Chase said. "There must've been a hundred people inside. And the owners of the firm – it was called Penny-Whelks. Amanda Penny and John Whelks, they were the first to come out." Rick said.

"So do you think there might be a leader-thing going on? Like someone is automatically in charge just because they were when they were alive?" Tina asked.

The General shifted in his seat, and Optimus spoke, "I do not believe this is a natural occurrence," he said, his rich baritone sent deep shivers down her spine. Ratchet hmphed.

"Of course it's not!" he barked. "Something is tampering with the dead!"

"Decepticon activity has been low, hasn't it, Red Alert?" Optimus asked calmly. The fire truck nodded. "We haven't been hearing from them for almost a month and a half now."

"There's been less and less for months now." a black and white mech, Prowl said, doorwings high. "There was a distinct subtraction of activity since last March. After that, raids slowed down until they stopped coming altogether mid-October."

"So they've got something to do with it, don't they?" Arcee asked. Optimus nodded.

"Excuse me," Mearing snapped. Everyone in the hangar turned to look at her. She'd been quiet this entire time. The director shrank a little as more gazes than expected turned towards her, but she pointed to another screen, turning the volume up so that CNN could be clearly heard.

And then they saw it. Cybertronians with faded paints and insignias were stumbling around the streets of Manhattan, of Dallas, of Seattle, slamming buildings down and taking lousy aim at everything. But do to the size of humans; it was good enough to destroy everything and everyone it hit.

Optimus shoulders sank slightly, barely noticeable and only seen by Mercer. "It seems as though humans are not the only ones with the dead brought back to life."

**OK, crappy ending and pretty much crappy everything. School is really getting to me now, and I really need to sleep, so thanks for reading, please, please REVIEW! I love constructive criticism! Reviews make me want to write more, and it lets me know that people are actually reading my stories.**

**Thanks guys! **

**F.W.C **


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